


In This Together: Make It Up

by joudama



Series: In This Together [4]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-08
Updated: 2011-03-08
Packaged: 2017-10-16 19:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/168554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joudama/pseuds/joudama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day, he'd make it up to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In This Together: Make It Up

**Author's Note:**

> Angeal and Genesis are about thirteen, fourteen here and this is prior to the Wutai war breaking out by about a year or two. Also, I haven't been a teenager in a long time, and HALLELUJIA FOR THAT.

"My parents _suck_ ," Genesis said instead of a hello when Angeal answered the angry knocking at the front door. Genesis had that _look_ , eyes narrowed and his bottom lip sticking out in an angry pout that he would deny if anyone ever pointed it out, and then give the person who said it a punch in the gut. Well, no, it was Gen, he was more likely to kick in their kneecaps then shove them into the mud. But he'd do it with style.

"I'm staying here tonight," he said, and pushed his way past Angeal. Angeal was already bigger than Genesis and showing signs of just getting bigger, but somehow Genesis, slight as he was, never had any problems pushing Angeal out of his way when he felt like getting somewhere, and usually with a glare at Angeal for having been in his way in the first place. Angeal just blinked and watched as Genesis stomped into the small house, slightly dumbfounded but mostly used to it.

Genesis all but flung himself into a chair at the small table in the middle of the room, steam all but pouring out of him as the bomb that was his temper twitched and flared.

"Have you eaten?" Angeal's mother said, putting her fork down. They had been in the middle of dinner, but she didn't seem upset at the interruption.

He sometimes wondered why his mother never seemed to object to Genesis just stomping in as he did. But then, there was also the feeling that it was natural; Genesis just had that kind of personality, where he fully expected reality to bend over backwards to suit him, and if it didn't they were going to have words.

His mother never got mad; instead, she would just get this slightly sad and pitying look on her face, before covering it with a smile and offer of a slice of apple pie. His mother was always almost oddly gentle towards Gen, as if he needed some kind of special handling, and Angeal kind of thought maybe that had set the tone for how he himself dealt with Gen.

Gen's nostrils flared. "No. I ate maybe half before I couldn't take _them_ anymore."

"You're still a growing boy, you should eat," she said, standing up to get a plate. "Angeal, sit down and finish eating," she finished, and Angeal nodded, because he really was hungry. There wasn't much food, and there'd be even less now, but there was always _enough_ , so it was fine.

Dinner was a quiet affair; it normally was for Angeal and his mother anyway, and with Genesis in a foul mood, instead of the conversation he usually brought with him, he was poking at his food and glaring at it for a long time before Angeal kicked him under the table and told him to either eat it or hand it over. Genesis kicked back, and then started eating, and by the time he was done, he wasn't in as bad of a mood.

"You boys should do your homework," Angeal's mother said. "Help me clear up, then get to that."

"Yes ma'am," Angeal said, then kicked Gen under the table again.

"Ow! And OK!" Genesis said with a glare at Angeal. Angeal's mother bit back a laugh, then shook her head. But they stood up and started clearing everything away, then headed to Angeal's room to do their homework.

"...You didn't bring your books, did you?" Angeal said suddenly.

Genesis shook his head. "Nope. I didn't bring anything. Lend me yours?"

"OK," Angeal agreed, but part of him really didn't like this--Genesis hadn't come over with _anything_ , and if there was one thing Genesis took with everywhere, it was a book of some kind. For him to have rushed out of his house without even grabbing something to read...

He pushed it out of his head and instead dug out his school books. Gen reached for the lit book, and Angeal was glad to let him take it. They settled into a comfortable silence, interrupted only an hour or so later when his mother brought them up some juice and fruit, which were all promptly eaten.

They were almost done with their homework, Gen having finished the lit assignment and Angeal the science so they switched books, when Angeal made the mistake of asking what had happened.

Genesis' mood instantly went sour, and he exploded almost instantly. "Everything I do is wrong!" he yelled. "They wouldn't care if I left and never came back." He narrowed his eyes suddenly. "Maybe one day I will. Everyone'd be happier that way."

This didn't sound like it was going in a good direction. Gen usually blew up, yeah, and it didn't last long, but there was something about the way he said that that made Angeal nervous.

"That's not true, Gen, and you know it. They're your parents, even if they kinda suck sometimes. They love you."

Genesis gave him a cold look. "I'm not _theirs_ ," he said. "I _know_ that, even if everyone tells me I'm wrong. Even the old gossip grannies. I have eyes!" he yelled. "I don't look a thing like _any_ of them. I even looked through my parents' pictures of their families, and no one. I don't look like anyone. And even if I was blind, I could see." He scowled. "I bet they bought me off someone since they couldn't have children themselves. Bet they wish they could get a refund," he said, huddling in on himself and mood darkening.

Angeal balled up a piece of paper and threw it at Genesis' head. His homework had been on that, but it was literature, and he sucked at that, so it was probably all wrong anyway. He'd make Genesis help him redo it later.

Genesis gave him a wounded look, and Angeal rolled his eyes. "You're smarter than everybody in class, even if you're dumb about some things. Like thinking your parents hate you."

"I don't just _think_ it," he said faintly, staring out the window. Angeal looked away, not knowing what to say. He knew the Rhapsodoses, after all, and...

Well, they weren't _bad_. It's just that they were cold. Or rather, they were really distant. He didn't quite know how to explain it, but there was just something kind of _off_ , sometimes, about the way they interacted with Gen. Sometimes it was like he was being observed rather than parented, like they were waiting for...something, Angeal didn't know what, but that just didn't make any sense. And other times, yeah. Gen was right, it was like they were tolerating him more than anything else, but he didn't think saying so would be a good idea. Not that he'd know what to say anyway.

But still, they were his parents, they had to love him. That's what parents _did_.

"Help me with my lit work?" Angeal finally said. "Since I had to throw it at your head and all, I have to redo it now. You owe me."

Genesis let out a surprised snicker of laughter. "What do you mean, I made you throw it at my head? You did that yourself, jerk!" he said, starting to smile. "Besides, as bad as your lit grades are, maybe you had the right idea," he ended with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you want my science homework to copy, you better help me with my lit," Angeal said, sticking his tongue out at Gen.

"I help you with lit and you let me copy your science? Deal," Genesis said, looking proud of himself, as if he'd gotten the better end of the deal, and held out his hand for Angeal's science homework.

They finished their homework and started watching some stupid program on the vid screen, and Angeal wondered what it was that could have happened this time to have left Genesis fuming all these hours later. But when Gen didn't want to say anything, he wouldn't, and he didn't feel like bringing it back up--Genesis was staring at the screen but not really watching it, his thoughts obviously a thousand kilometers away. Angeal had an idea that things were pretty bad at the Rhapsodos house; even when they were little Genesis would drag his feet at returning home from playing, and there were times lately when Genesis would show up at Angeal's house in the mornings, hair undone and wearing the same clothes as the night before, as if he hadn't gone home but had slept out in the orchards. He'd usually toss an apple at Angeal, which had solidified that feeling in the boy's head. But now it had started getting colder, too cold to sleep outside, and it looked like he'd be coming over to Angeal's instead.

That was fine; Angeal liked the thought of Genesis sleeping under a roof a lot more than that of him sleeping out in the cold.

The bed was getting to be too small for the two of them, but Angeal couldn't fit into his old sleeping bag anymore, and the gods only knew what would happen if he told Gen to take it. But ah, well, they were friends, and somehow, when they finally went to bed, they fit.

Angeal was almost asleep when he heard Genesis whisper.

"One day," Genesis said, his voice small, "I'm getting out of here. I'm going to be a hero, somehow. I will," he said. His voice was thick. "I'll show them that I'm not..." His voice cut off before he could finish the sentence. "I _will_."

He knew he should say something, that there had to be words to say to make things OK, but he didn't know what they could be, and it felt like a failure. He'd make it up to Gen, one day. And instead of trying words that would only fail somehow, he reached over to Gen, in the bed they were getting too big to share any more, and ruffled Gen's hair and said a soft, "Yeah. Yeah, you will," and then left his hand there; kept it there as Gen curled himself against Angeal and swallowed thickly.


End file.
